Story of Gleamfur (Chp1)
by WhyDidn'tYouSaySoGosh
Summary: Most of her childhood c:


Leader: Lightningstar Black with brown patches

Deputy: Rainstorm Brown with black and white spots

Medicine cat: Pebbleclaw Dark grey with white rings, patches and spots

Queens:

Honeytail Peachy brown

Appleflower Golden yellow, white paws

Smoothpetal Light brown and white

Warriors:

Darkclaw Very dark grey with black markings

Redfeather Dark ginger pelt and white tail tip

Sharpfang Rugged white and black she

Littlenose She with a small nose and ginger pelt

Thickbranch brown and ginger

Cherryshine Beautiful, deep red

Hightail Brown and black

Grey-ear White with a grey ear and paws

Apprentices:

Youngpaw Nice brown colour

Sunkenpaw White with brown spots

Crowpaw Golden colour with ginger markings

Kits:

Brazenkit Dark brown with black markings

Thornkit

Gleamkit Shiny peachy brown

Ravenkit Black with grey paws

Honeytail of Nightclan lay, drained, in the nursery. Although she was only one kit, it hadn't been a pleasant experience. Lightningstar, her leader and mate, had been in and saw her. The kit had her pelt, a sleek peachy orange, all over, and a slim body figure. This kit was going to be beautiful one day. The kit was a girl, and purred in her sleep. Honeytail's heart swelled with every purr, as she slept peacefully. It was nearing the end of Leaf-fall, not a good time to have a kit, but the elders seemed optimistic. The nursery was warm and cosy from the frosty wind that seemed like a promise of all the cold days to come in Leaf-bare. The moon came out from behind a cloud, the kits fur gleamed and shined, and Honeytail's eyes widened. It was like many jewels had settled in her fur and came out when the moon smiled down on them. Many names had gone through Honeytail's head by this point. Orangekit, Gingerkit, Smallkit, Sleekkit. Now there was only one name that seemed to fit.

Gleamkit.

Gleamkit yawned and stumbled out of the nursery. Thornkit was growling challengingly at the elders, and although they seemed unfazed Gleamkit felt quite wary. His brother, Brazenkit was talking with his mother, Smoothpetal, at the fresh-kill pile. Gleamkit was _still _too young to eat it (Boring!) and had to do with milk. Not that she had anything against milk; it was fine, but boring. Appleflower smelt strongly of it, and she had been speaking to Pebbleclaw. Gleamkit couldn't understand very many words yet, but she was slowly getting the hang of it. "Milk," meant it was time to go feed, "Bed," means it was time to go to bed, and "sleep" (which was said very often) meant that she had to go to sleep. Pebbleclaw had said "Milk," and "Kits," which Gleamkit placed together. Appleflower had kits? There hadn't been anyone else in the nursery besides her and Honeytail. Appleflower waddled past and spoke to Honeytail. She mentioned "kits" again. Were they talking about her? Appleflower had a very big belly. She walked very slowly to get around, as if there was something precious inside. Gleamkit wondered what it was and stumbled off. She couldn't walk very well yet, her legs never seemed to be able to co-ordinate properly, but she managed to get over to Brazenkit.

"Hello," he said.

Gleamkit proudly replied, "Hello." She knew what that meant. Brazenkit was a bit older then her and knew more words. But she knew what, "Play" meant. Soon she was attempting to kick a little moss ball at him. Her eyes, which were amber, sparkled. Playing filled her with a kind of mad energy, and she wanted to kick it and push it and leap and run around. Brazenkit was very big, but Gleamkit was quite small for age, even as a little kit. Gleamkit liked playing, and she wanted to do it a lot more. Maybe she and Brazenkit could play again tomorrow? She stumbled over some sentences, but she really was getting better at talking, and they made a deal to play again the next day. Honeytail and Smoothpetal cooed over them, and Gleamkit knew she enjoyed attention. Maybe she could do a few tricks to get more of it? Brazenkit was lying down, resting. Gleamkit backed up and started to run. She like running, the feel of wind in her pelt, the raw energy tingling down her spine. Brazenkit looked up, confused, as she leapt into the air.

The feeling was incredible, and she wanted to stay like that forever, but she knew she had land. She twisted her body and landed daintily on her feet, like she had been practising for moons and moons. Her little paws hurt a bit, but it was nothing compared to the wonderful attention of apprentices and queens cooing around. A big black tom, who she knew was very important because everyone gave him attention as well, came up and spoke a few proud words to her. The attention of this big leader made her feel like she was filled with air and could float up to Starclan anytime. She heard the word Lightningstar, and Honeytail told her to say, "Hello father." She obliged and got lots more coos and pets. It was getting cold and dark now, and she was glad to be back in the warm nursery snuggled up to mother's warm belly.

A moon later it was much colder. Gleamkit could speak almost fluently now. She soon learnt that father meant like a mother but didn't do as much but still cared about her. She felt proud that such an important person was her father. She and Brazenkit had grown very close, whilst Thornkit seemed happier on his own. His eyes were green and tough and it was clear he didn't like to mess around, but Gleamkit found it cute and played around with him easily. So that was what the definition of friend meant. Even as a kit Gleamkit knew she would do anything to protect her clan, elders told her tales of the other three clans, Treeclan, Rockclan and Snowclan. They lived very close to Treeclan, but apparently they were quite peaceful towards Nightclan. Rockclan seemed like the biggest threat, as Snowclan was up in the mountains and Rockclan was apparently very proud and vicious. Gleamkit couldn't wait to train and be able to fight them. But other tales were about cats that weren't loyal. About cats who thought of themselves and wanted more. About cats _that went behind their leaders back_ and let bad things happen to their clan. Gleamkit felt angry that someone would do that, she couldn't imagine defying brave and strong Lightningstar for her own needs. Honeytail scolded the Elder's for telling a young kit such horrible tales, but Gleamkit knew she would cause pain to anyone that ever dared hurt her clan. She sat and talked with Brazenkit for a while.

"Hey Brazenkit, your eyes a very green," she noted.

"Yes. They are," Brazenkit agreed.

"So, um, why aren't they amber? Mine are. I like amber it's like the sun you know once I looked at the sun and it hurt my eyes so I told mother but she said I shouldn't do it so I decided I would do it because she was ignoring me and I couldn't see for a dawn. Weird right?"

"…Yes."

Gleamkit was gaining quite a large personality. To Gleamkit the world was big and bright, she couldn't think why anyone would be sad in a wonderful world like this. It was getting cold, alright, but the grass was still green and the sky was still blue and Gleamkit couldn't think of anything not being wonderful.

Then someone yelled,

"THE KITS ARE COMING THE KITS ARE COMING."

Gleamkit looked around; she couldn't see any kits coming. Maybe Appleflower meant her? Gleamkit stood up and headed to the nursery, but was stopped by Honeytail gently picking her up and setting her by the apprentice den. Youngpaw and Crowpaw played with her for a while.

"You know, when you're an apprentice you won't get to play. You have to train all day," Crowpaw told her.

"Whoa," Gleamkit answered. "That. Sounds. AWESOME!"

Youngpaw frowned. "Really?"

"Yeah. You know, playing is fun and all but what I reeaaally want is to fight all day!" Gleamkit squealed. Crowpaw nodded thoughtfully. He bopped her with his nose and said,

"You're it! You have to catch me!"

Gleamkit squealed. Maybe playing was very fun. The evening she walked to the nursery and saw a little black kit sleeping next to apple flower. Maybe that was the kit that had been coming?

"Who's that?" she asked interestedly.

"Ravenkit," Appleflower told her.

Gleamkit looked interestedly down at him.

"Is he the kit that was coming?" she asked.

Appleflower laughed. "Yes, he was."

Gleamkit was feeling the cold. Chilling breezes swept around and the apprentices shivered when they returned from training. One day Gleamkit walked over to the fresh-kill pile. There was a mouse, and it smelt so good she couldn't help nibbling a little. The taste was astonishing, much better then milk. She ate it up and felt pleasantly full.

"I just ate a mouse," she told Brazenkit proudly.

"Well _I _ate a vole," he replied tartly.

"Oh really? Because I ate a rabbit."

"Well I ate a fox."

"I ate a badger."

"I ate the leader of Rockclan!"

"I ATE THE WHOLE OF ROCKCLAN!"

Appleflower laughed good naturedly at them, as they menacingly circled eachother. She batted him gently, and he pushed a little harder. So she pushed back, he pushed back, and then they were rolling around. Brazenkit was very big and Gleamkit felt his weight, but she decided to use it against him. She pushed herself in a position that overbalanced Brazenkit and allowed her to cling onto his back. He shook and shook but Gleamkit found she was enjoying the sensation so clung on harder. Thornkit didn't seem impressed, but there was an envious look in his eye at the fighting kits.

Gleamkit was soon finding the names of other cats.

The leader, her father, was Lightningstar. The deputy was a she-cat named Rainstorm, the medicine cat was a greying tom named Pebbleclaw, there was Honeytail, Smoothpetal and Appleflower of course, but there were many other warriors. Cherryshine, a reddish-brown she-cat who was very VERY beautiful, Darkclaw (Appleflower's mate), Sharpfang a rugged looking white-and-black she, Littlenose, Thickbranch (Cherryshine's mate), Hightail and Grey-ear, the apprentices were Crowpaw, Sunkenpaw and Youngpaw. And of course three kits, Gleamkit, Brazenkit and Ravenkit. The clan was quite large, and the camp settled in a sheltered hollow. The nursery was deepest and surrounded by rushes, the apprentice den was ferns and leaves pushed together into nests with a shelter above, the warrior den in a little hole in the side, the medicine cat den in a bigger hole, the entrance sheltered by ferns, and the leader's den at the top so he could look at the whole clan.

Soon Gleamkit was 3 moons old, and Nightclan was deep in winter. Snow settled on the ground, and thinking it would help get some of her energy out, Honeytail allowed Gleamkit to help push it all into a corner. Gleamkit jumped and played around in it, not really working but having a brilliant time. Ravenkit, 1 moon old, came out and inspected it. He sniffed at the cold snow, decided it was nicer inside and went back to bed. Brazenkit, who's fur was thick and brown, was quite good and gathering into piles, but Gleamkit continuously jumped into the drifts and sent snow everywhere. She was grounded to the nursery whilst the cats started from scratch. Honeytail licked the snow off her fur and allowed her to sit at the entrance.

She saw Lightningstar and Rainstorm discussing something nearby. Opening her ears a little wider, she listened in.

"Prey is getting dangerously short, Rainstorm."

"I am aware of that. Darkclaw and Hightail are leading extra patrols at sunhigh and sundown."

"Good. But we have three kits in the clan, one a moon old. The queens need to provide milk."

"Brazenkit and Gleamkit are old enough to eat fresh-kill, now."

"That only adds to the problem, Rainstorm."

"Are we suggesting moving them back to milk?"

"It is the easier option. But Gleamkit is very stubborn; I don't think she will submit."

"Nor will Brazenkit. Parhaps they can share a mouse, they are good friends."

"Maybe. And the apprentices?"

"Fur growing well, shouldn't be too cold. I believe Youngpaw is old enough to be given a warrior name."

"I will assess her when I have a moment spare."

They started talking about boring clan things, and Gleamkit was stiff with horror. Back to milk? No no no! She would NOT submit. Gleamkit did like the thought of sharing with Brazenkit though, he was very nice. The plan went through, and although she would have liked some fresh-kill of her own, they obediently shared a thrush. The next day a clan meeting was held. Ravenkit stayed cosy at the back of the nursery, but Brazenkit and Gleamkit excitedly followed Honeytail and Appleflower into the main bit of the camp.

Youngpaw sat proudly as Lightningstar gave her a warrior name, Youngheart. The clan chanted it, Brazenkit and Gleamkit doing so with enthusiasm. Warriors and apprentices headed out for training and hunting, elders went to their den, queens gossiping, kits playing.

After one particular day of tumbling in the dust and getting her fur all dirty, Cherryshine came over and tutted.

"Your fur looks a MESS, Gleamkit," she said.

"Is that bad?"

"Oh yes, VERY bad! Another cats first impression of you is your fur, you know. You should keep it to perfection, like mine." Cherryshine shook her beautiful fur out. Gleamkit looked admiringly at it; her fur was very nice!

Immediately she turned her head around and started to lick away all the dust.

"No, no. Like this," Cherryshine instructed, showing her the proper way to do it. Gleamkit copied, and they spent the rest of the evening grooming their pelts.

"Your pelt will be nice when you're older, you know," Cherryshine noticed.

Gleamkit's eyes brightened. She couldn't wait until then! Thornkit walked past them, glaring at their clean pelts.

"A real warrior has their fur all dirty, to show they're fierce!" he said.

"A real warrior wouldn't let their fur get so disgraceful. Cats would look down on them!" Cherryshine said, a faint hiss in her smooth voice. Thornkit looked as though he was about to say something, but shrugged and walked away, his fur bristling.

"Feisty little thing, isn't he?" Cherryshine sighed.

"Brazenkit is too," Gleamkit told her.

"Hmm, yeah… So, what do you think of Brazenkit? He's a handsome little thing," Cherryshine noticed. "You two spend a lot of time together."

"You spend a lot of time with Thickbranch," Gleamkit replied. Cherryshine recoiled sharply.

"There isn't anything going on between us!"

"He's handsome too. He looks very strong."

"Hmm… Yeah," Cherryshine shrugged, getting up and padding away.

Gleamkit and Brazenkit were playfighting one day when a small voice from behind them said,

"H-hewo."

"Hello," Gleamkit replied kindly to Ravenkit. He had very nice green eyes. Gleamkit and Ravenkit stared at eachother for a while.

"BOO!" Gleamkit suddenly yelled.

Ravenkit jumped and stumbled backwards. Brazenkit laughed and Gleamkit nudged him up. Ravenkit even laughed a little, staring up at her.

"Wanna play?" Gleamkit offered.

Ravenkit nodded and Brazenkit walked off, not wanting his reputation to be torn by hanging out with a kit. Gleamkit rolled him the mossball, and although he wasn't as enthusiastic as she had been as a kit they rolled it and kicked it about happily in the snow.

"Ravenkit," Appleflower called, "It is getting dark. You need to come in now."

"But G-G-G," he stuttered. He concentrated hard and said, "G-Gweamki-it?"

"Congratulation," Gleamkit purred.

"Does not go bed now?" Ravenkit finished.

"She is older. Your bed time," Appleflower told him, nudging him inside. Brazenkit came back as soon as he had left.

"Scrawny little tom, isn't he?" he huffed.

"He seems nice," Gleamkit replied.

"Yeah, but you're _my _best friend, though?"

"Completely."

But Gleamkit liked the scrawny little black kit. They shared a scrawny little vole (Gleamkit always seemed to get the biggest part) and then retreated to the nursery. After the harsh coldness of outside they snuggled up in the cotton balls and feathers that lined the nursery bedding. Ravenkit was already asleep, snoring gently. The next morning Gleamkit wasn't the first awake. She yawned and wandered outside. The clan was pretty much deserted apart from Honeytail and Appleflower.

"Again? So soon?" Appleflower mused.

"Yes very funny I am expecting kits again. And apparently I'm quite far along too! A moon at the most until I kit, Pebbleclaw told me."

"How is Gleamkit going to react?"

"I am not sure. She likes being the centre of attention; she might hate the new kits."

"Or she might love them as any sister would."

"Maybe. She'll be a bit surprised to have new nursery mates though."

And Gleamkit was very surprised. New siblings? Oh dear. What if mother DID love them more than her? What if they took everyone's attention? Gleamkit was quite worried. But she walked casually up to them.

"Morning, mother and Appleflower."

"Good morning, Gleamkit," Honeytail said, with a hint of uncertainty.

Gleamkit pretended to be surprised and excited at the news of kits.

"Mother? Can I go out of camp today?" she asked in her sugar sweet voice, making her amber eyes go big and sparkly. It was a new talent she had picked up.

"Me too! Me too!" Brazenkit shouted, running out.

"Fine. We will take you as far as the long grass patch. You might get to see some proper apprentice training," Appleflower said.

Brazenkit and Gleamkit gobbled down some breakfast, said goodbye to Ravenkit (Gleamkit's a little friendlier) and headed out of the camp for the first time. The easiest root out was passing the elder's den, who called out "Good luck!" and "Don't let a hawk catch you." And then attempting to stop them to tell them a not-so-thrilling tale about kits that get stolen by hawks. They came out of the camp and looked around.

It was mostly fields, by the size of it shocked the kits. There were rocks and dips and hills making the landscape uneven and easier to hunt in, and they saw the forest and the mountain in the distance. The scents were amazing too, fresh grass, the scents of small animals almost overwhelming. Honeytail led them through some tall grass. Gleamkit passed an anthill and was tempted to stop and sniff it, but was nudged on by Appleflower. It wasn't a very long journey, but it was farther then Gleamkit had ever gone. Finally they were at the long grass patch. It was a patch of short grass surrounded by a ring of very long grass. Inside it was two tall rocks. Crowpaw and Sunkenpaw were training with Grey-ear and Thickbranch. They turned and looked at the kits as they entered.

With a squeak of excitement Gleamkit hurtled towards one of the rocks. Using her newly grown claws she scrambled to the top and looked triumphantly down on them.

"Gleamkit get down!" Honeytail ordered.

"In a second," Gleamkit replied menacingly.

She backed up as far as she could. Seeing what she was going to do, Honeytail urgently stepped forward but Gleamkit leapt high into the air. Ah yes, there was the wonderful sensation of flying. Except now it was real, she stretched out her front paws and landed on the other rock. She turned and stuck her tongue out.

"Woo!" Crowpaw called enthusiastically.

"Good job," Sunkenpaw replied grudgingly.

"Gleamkit, that was incredibly dangerous!" Honeytail scolded.

"But cool," Crowpaw laughed. Gleamkit returned to camp on a high. The story soon spread.

"It's a bit strange," Rainstorm murmured to Lightningstar, whose eyes glowed with pride. "Her eyes shine brighter and her fur is like embedded jewels and now this? Gleamkit is not a usual kit."

"Pebbleclaw did say she would be destined for great things," Lightningstar mused, refusing to accept his brilliant kit had anything wrong with her.

"What? When did he say that?" Rainstorm asked.

"Oh… He said to keep it to myself. Oops."

Rainstorm sighed. "And then there's her personality. She's very bouncy, very resilient, willing to anything to be the best she can."

"That's a bad thing?"

"Yes but… She could be either the best or the worst warrior Nightclan ever has."

"Keep an eye on her then," Lightningstar said simply, walking off.

"Maybe I will…" Rainstorm murmured.

Gleamkit had just woken up a few dawns later when Honeytail started moaning. Pebbleclaw was there in an instant, checking over her.

"You're kitting a bit early," he noticed.

"Will the kits be okay?" Honeytail panted.

"Most likely," he replied. Gleamkit decided to watch. She turned her head away when the gross bit came, but turned back when she heard a little wail. The first kit was a tom, black and quite small. Then came a little she, with Gleamkit's fur but not nearly as shiny or sleek.

"Got any names?" Appleflower asked. Pebbleclaw had left some advice and borage leaves for milk and then gone back to the medicine cat den.

"Maybe birds," Honeytail replied.

"Robinkit? Swallowkit? Buzzardkit?"

"Definitely _not _Buzzadkit. I like the names Lark and Jay…"

"Jay for the boy and Lark for the girl?" Appleflower offered.

"No. Just because they sound they should be that way doesn't mean they have to be. The little black tom will be Larkkit, and the ginger one will be Jaykit," Honeytail decided. Appleflower nodded.

"Where are they?!" Came a voice, and Lightningstar came in. He definitely seemed more interested in the new kits then Gleamkit, she thought glumly. He inspected them for a little while, and then turned to Gleamkit.

"Aren't you going to say hello?"

Gleamkit cautiously came forward and sniffed them. Jaykit opened an eye and looked at her reproachfully. It was amber, smaller and less sparkly than Gleamkit's but still amber. Larkkit stayed asleep. Gleamkit tilted her head and Jaykit closed her eye again, uninterested or stuck-up, Gleamkit didn't know.

**Yaaay my first story c:**

**Yay c:**

**Sothen, I actually started writing this like two years ago but then I decided to post it online, cuz I got nothing better to do ^0^**

**I'm up to probably writing Chapter 7; 22730 words in font 11 spread over 70 pages so far c:**

**So then, anyway, I'll get to submitting the stuff. c:**

**c:**


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